scholarly journals Relationship between Learning Approaches and Academic Performance of Dental Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in Kermanshah, Iran

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Narges Ziaei ◽  
Marzie Shaveisi ◽  
Maryam Janatolmakan ◽  
Roya Safari Bahramani ◽  
Alireza Khatony

Background. Learning approaches are a set of skills and strategies used by learners to organize and recall the content. Teachers can adopt appropriate teaching methods if they know the students’ learning approaches. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between learning approaches and academic performance of dental student. Methods. In this cross-sectional study, 128 dental students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences were recruited by the stratified random sampling method. The data collection tools were a demographic information form and Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST). To determine academic performance, the grade point average (GPA) of the previous semester was used, and students with GPA scores ≤14.99 and ≥ 15 were divided into weak and strong groups, respectively. Data were analyzed by SPSS 17 software using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results. The most common learning approach in most strong (n = 49, 45.4%) and weak (n = 12, 60%) students was the superficial approach. The results of the chi-square test did not show a statistically significant difference between strong and weak students in terms of the learning approach. Conclusion. The results did not show a statistically significant relationship between students’ learning approach and their academic performance. However, since the superficial approach can lead to a decline in academic performance, the professors need to take the necessary intervention measures to improve students’ learning approaches. Further studies with larger sample sizes are recommended to shed more light on this research domain.

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. e043814
Author(s):  
Mesfin Tadese ◽  
Andargachew Kassa ◽  
Abebaw Abeje Muluneh ◽  
Girma Altaye

ObjectivesThe study aimed to provide an association between dysmenorrhoea and academic performance among university students in Ethiopia. Further, the study attempts to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of dysmenorrhoea.Design and methodInstitution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 April to 28 April 2019. A semistructured and pretested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Binary logistic regression analysis and one-way analysis of variance were performed to model dysmenorrhoea and academic performance, respectively.Setting and participantsEthiopia (2019: n=647 female university students).OutcomesThe primary outcome is dysmenorrhoea, which has been defined as painful menses that prevents normal activity and requires medication. The self-reported cumulative grade point average of students was used as a proxy measure of academic performance, which is the secondary outcome.ResultsThe prevalence of dysmenorrhoea was 317 (51.5%). The educational status of father (adjusted OR (AOR) (95% CI) 2.64 (1.04 to 6.66)), chocolate consumption (AOR (95% CI) 3.39 (95% 1.28 to 8.93)), daily breakfast intake (<5 days/week) (AOR (95% CI) 0.63 (0.42 to 0.95)), irregular menstrual cycle AOR (95% CI) 2.34 (1.55 to 3.54)) and positive family history of dysmenorrhoea AOR (95% CI) 3.29 (2.25 to 4.81)) had statistically significant association with dysmenorrhoea. There was no statistically significant difference in academic performance among students with and without dysmenorrhoea (F (3611)=1.276, p=0.28)).ConclusionsDysmenorrhoea was a common health problem among graduating University students. However, it has no statistically significant impact on academic performance. Reproductive health officers should educate and undermine the negative academic consequences of dysmenorrhoea to reduce the physical and psychological stress that happens to females and their families.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Manal Almalik ◽  
Abeer Alnowaiser ◽  
Omar El Meligy ◽  
Jamal Sallam ◽  
Yusra Balkheyour

Objective. To determine anxiety in relation to gender, Grade Point Average (GPA), level of education and academic and clinical situations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Also, to identify academic and clinical anxiety levels among postgraduate pediatric dentistry students. Methods. A cross-sectional study at governmental training hospitals was conducted. All registered postgraduate students in pediatric dental programs during the year 2015-2016 were included in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed electronically to 60 postgraduate pediatric dentistry students aged between 25 and 45 years old. The questionnaire is composed of 55 questions that investigated demographic data, academic and clinical related situations including investigations, diagnosis, treatment, and complications in treatment. Results. The study showed a higher anxiety level in younger age dental students (76.7% compared to 23.3%) and Saudi board residents (60%). Comparing gender differences in anxiety revealed that a significant difference (P≤0.05) was found and anxiety seems to be more among female dental students (2% very anxious, 64% slightly anxious, and 34% not anxious) as compared to male dental students (8% very anxious, 69% slightly anxious, and 23% not anxious). Conclusions. There was increased awareness, detailed understanding, and handling of the patients by senior postgraduate pediatric dentistry students compared to junior students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Noushin Kouhan ◽  
Maryam Janatolmakan ◽  
Mansour Rezaei ◽  
Alireza Khatony

Background. The lack of attention of nursing professors to students’ learning styles can cause academic failure. The results of studies on the relationship between students’ learning style and academic achievement are contradictory. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the relationship between VARK learning styles and academic performance among virtual nursing students. Methods. In this cross-sectional study, 237 virtual nursing students were enrolled by the convenience sampling method. The VARK learning styles questionnaire was used for data collection. The basis for determining academic performance was the grade point average(s) (GPA) of the previous semester(s). Students were divided into two groups based on their GPA, including strong (GPA ≥15) and weak (GPA ≤14.99) groups. Results. In both strong and weak groups, most of the subjects were unimodal (with a frequency of 92.9% and 78.5%, respectively), and the rest were multimodal. The most common learning styles in strong and weak students were kinesthetic (57.1%) and auditory (37.2%), respectively. The results of chi-square test did not show statistically significant differences between learning styles and academic performance of strong and weak students. Conclusion. There was no significant relationship between the dominant learning styles and academic performance of strong and weak students. However, nursing professors need to adapt their teaching methods to the students’ learning styles. More studies are recommended to shed more light on this area of research.


2020 ◽  
Vol Volume 14 ◽  
pp. 2035-2042
Author(s):  
Saba Kassim ◽  
Abdulaziz Ali Hussain Mahzari ◽  
Essam Mohammed Rabea Madkhali ◽  
Yara Almaghraby ◽  
Nebras Althagafi ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1582
Author(s):  
Praveen Kumar R. S. ◽  
Kaki Aruna ◽  
Aravind Kumar ◽  
Venkatalakshmi P.

Background: Smartphones are unavoidable technology in this modern era. Though there are several advantages with the use of smartphones, there is another school of thought is that due to excessive use of smartphones and addiction behavior the academic performance of the students gets deteriorates. With this in background, this study was conducted to compare the use of smartphones with the student’s academic performances.Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted among the undergraduate medical students of Sri Venkateshwara medical college hospital and research institute, Puducherry, a tertiary care teaching hospital during the January 2019 to July 2019. A total of 370 students were included in this study. All were assessed for the demographic profile and questions related to usage of smart phones using a questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS.Results: Sharing documents, assessing drug information, taking notes and reading journals articles and books was the academic reasons reported by 94.6%, 72.7%, 58.1% and 35.7% of participants, respectively. Among non-academic reasons games, social media and entertainments was recorded in 82.4% 75.4% and 33% of participants, respectively. Mean duration of smart phone usage in a day was 3.5 hours. However, there was no significant difference noted between the academic performance and use of smartphones.Conclusions: Though smartphone use has no significant impact on academic performance of medical students, with the view of steady increase in smartphone usage, there is a necessary for further monitoring, in order to prevent smartphone related complications like addiction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Muhammad Nazir ◽  
Muhanad Alhareky ◽  
Abdulrahman Alqahtani ◽  
Leenah Alsulaimi ◽  
Reema Alotaibi ◽  
...  

Objective. To evaluate empathy and its related factors among undergraduate dental students and interns enrolled in a public dental college in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods. This cross-sectional study used the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Profession Students (JSE-HPS) version to determine empathy in 362 dental students and interns in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The JSE-HPS is a 20-item 7-point Likert scale questionnaire, and its score ranges from 20 to 140 with high values indicating increased empathy. Influences of age, gender, class year, previous year’s grade point average (GPA), educational attainment of parents, and monthly family income on empathy were evaluated. Results. Of 501 enrolled students and interns, 362 returned completed questionnaires, and the response rate of the study was 72%. The sample’s empathy score (JSPE-HPS scale) ranged from 70 to 129 with a mean of 96.75 (±13.76). Most participants believed that empathy is important for effective communication with patients (96.1%) and can improve the provider-patient relationship (95.6%). Females demonstrated a significantly higher mean empathy score (99.98 ± 14.01) than males (92.72 ± 12.35) ( P < 0.001 ). Similarly, the participants with high GPA (98.06 ± 13.69) had significantly greater mean empathy scores than those with low GPA (94.84 ± 13.68) ( P = 0.029 ). The mean empathy score increased significantly from junior students (3rd and 4th year students) to senior students (5th and 6th year students) and interns ( P = 0.008 ). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that class year (B = 2.03, P = 0.006 ) and GPA (B = 8.67, P = 0.003 ) were significant factors associated with empathy. Conclusions. Empathy is important for effective patient communication and improved provider-patient relationship. Female gender, high GPA, and class years were associated with empathy. Empathy should be integrated into dental curricula for effective student learning and positive patient care outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heba Sabbagh ◽  
Asma Shagagi ◽  
Hanin Basheer ◽  
Rawa Mahmoud

Abstract Background To assess the prevalence and awareness of ergonomics and physical activities in controlling work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among dental students, interns, and postgraduates at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University through a validated self-administered questionnaire. It was distributed among dental students from the fourth academic year to postgraduate level. Results A total of 402 students responded to the questionnaire; 337 (83.8%) reported suffering from musculoskeletal pain with 67.7% of participants did not take any measures to alleviate their symptoms and the majority reported limited physical activity. Females reported significantly higher MSD symptoms than males. Based on the location of the MSD pain, lower back pain (56.5%), neck pain (56.2%) and shoulder (50%) were the most frequently reported MSDs. There was a statistically significant difference in pain at various academic levels with undergraduate students reporting more pain than interns and postgraduate students (P= 0.009). The dental students' awareness of ergonomics and MSDs was found to be insufficient. Conclusion The prevalence of work-related MSDs is high among dental students at King Abdulaziz University, and awareness of ergonomics and MSDs among dental students is limited.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1132-1149
Author(s):  
Paulo Moreira ◽  
Susana Pedras ◽  
Paula Pombo

The present study aimed to describe the predictive role of personality dimensions, learning approaches, and well-being in the academic performance of students. In total, 602 students participated in this cross-sectional study and completed a set of questionnaires assessing personality, learning approach, and well-being. Two indexes were calculated to assess affective and non-affective well-being. The results partially support the hypotheses formulated. Results revealed that personality temperament and character dimensions, deep learning approach, and affective well-being were significant predictors of academic performance. A deep approach to learning was a full and partial mediator of the relationship between personality and academic performance. The results improve the understanding of the differential contribution of personality, type of learning approach, and type of well-being to academic performance. Comprehending that personality is the strongest predictor of academic performance, after controlling the type of learning approach and the type of well-being, informs school policies and decision-makers that it is essential to encourage personality development in adolescents to improve academic performance. These results also have implications for educational policies and practices at various levels, including an emphasis on the role of well-being as an educational asset. Understanding the links between personality, well-being, and education is essential to conceptualize education as a vital societal resource for facing current and future challenges, such as sustainable development.


2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-49
Author(s):  
Rayssa Pereira NACASATO ◽  
Rafael Aiello BOMFIM ◽  
Alessandro Diogo DE-CARLI

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess the progression of a public university's dental students through stages of moral development during the course. Methods: A cross-sectional study with 115 students (from the 1st to the 7th semester), to whom the "Opiniões sobre problemas sociais" test, adapted and translated to the Portuguese language, was applied. Results: The collected answers were charted according to the test manual's guidelines and data were analyzed by the GraphPad Prism software 6.0 and STATA v.13. Principal morality score values, expressed as a P value (%), were 40.26%; 39.32%; 36.45% and 36.27% for the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th semesters, respectively, with no statistically significant difference between the groups (ANOVA, p = 0.52). Conclusion: Students' degrees of morality did not vary significantly among the semesters compared, indicating the need for a reorientation of teaching-learning practices that takes the potential of transformative learning into account.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. e054728
Author(s):  
Jennifer Guse ◽  
Annabel Susan Weegen ◽  
Ines Heinen ◽  
Corinna Bergelt

ObjectivesTo investigate levels of distress, depression, anxiety, stress and perception of their current study situation during the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduate dental and medical students.DesignObservational, cross-sectional study including two consecutive surveys (May and July 2020).SettingA large medical school in Germany.ParticipantsAll first year dental and medical students were invited. 132 participating first year students (44 dental, 88 medical) from the first survey and 150 students (50 dental, 100 medical) from the second were included in our analyses.Primary and secondary outcome measuresMental burden (distress thermometer, Patient Health Questionnaire-4, Perceived Stress Scale-4) and self-reported changes in mental health and perception of study situation during the COVID-19 pandemic (self-developed items) were compared. Open-ended questions were analysed by conventional content analyses.ResultsA considerable proportion of students (t1: May 2020: 84.1%; t2: July 2020: 77.3%) reported distress levels above cut-off. In July 2020, dental students reported significantly higher distress scores than medical students (dental: M=7.0, SD=2.3; medical: M=5.7; SD=2.1; p<0.001). More dental than medical students reported mild, moderate and severe levels of anxiety and depression symptoms. The majority stated that their mental health and study motivation had not changed during the pandemic. Logistic regression showed that being a dental student was significantly associated with a higher likelihood for serious worries regarding the study situation during COVID-19 at t1 (OR 4.0; 95% CI 1.1 to 14.2). At t2 higher distress was significantly associated with a higher likelihood for experiencing serious worries (OR 1.8; 95% CI 1.3 to 2.5). Regarding current concerns related to the pandemic, students most frequently reported difficulties with self-regulated learning (15.2%), study-related worries and uncertainty (14.4%), missing feedback of students and lecturers (11.4%) and lack of practical training (9.8%).ConclusionThe results suggest that high mental burden and the lack of practical training among medical and dental students is an increasing problem, with a possibly even higher urgency in dental students. Tailored psychological and educational support offers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic might help them as they progress through (medical and) dental school.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document